Guns were outlawed at all these locations, and yet the killers ignored the bans. Plus, the shooters passed background checks — as did the Oregon shooter, who passed several background checks in purchasing his firearms.

Albert Einstein defined “insanity” as doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Clearly, the call for more gun control is insane — it doesn’t work.

And that is why Gun Owners of America agrees with the 86% of police who say these types of incidents would be prevented if the potential victims were not disarmed.

Consider just a partial list of the locations where armed citizens have stopped bad guys in their tracks over the past year: in a bar in Youngstown, Ohio; on a street corner in Chicago; at a barber shop in Philadelphia; in a church in Florida; at a food processing plant in Oklahoma; and at a hospital in Darby, Pa.

And then, there was the attempted mass shooting in 2012 at the Clackamas mall in Oregon. When a gunman began killing people in the mall, Nick Meli drew his concealed firearm and pointed it at the gunman, thus spooking him into taking his own life.

Nick Meli was breaking the “no guns policy” at the mall, but there are many survivors who are glad he did.

Gun-free zones are the problem. Let’s repeal them.

Written by Erich Pratt. He is the Director of Communications for Gun Owners of America, a national gun rights lobby representing more than one million gun owners. Visit gunowners.org for more. Used with permission.